Crying Babies - Jill Greenberg

Having looked at Sam Taylor Wood, I stumbled upon Jill Greenberg's photography where her series of crying children stood out in particular. Greenberg captures a range of children crying in a series of around 35 pieces. Her methods involve giving the child a lollipop to enjoy, only to take it away.



With the subject being children, the impact is decisively different from Wood's crying men. Children are delicate, pure and beautiful. We instinctively move to protect them. Seeing the children's raw expression and emotion stir memories of our own childhood and the anguish we perhaps once had to endure. To a degree, we feel what they feel as we instinctively feel compelled to ease one's suffering.



The effectiveness in both Greenberg's and Wood's work stems from the emotion of the subject. Both confront us with raw emotions that can relate to a personal level. Thus, portraiture with an emotional context can sometimes overwhelm us as in this case a child crying is all we are presented to see, making for a powerful gripping image.

You can find more of Greenberg's work here.

6 comments:

Bluejetdude said...

Hey Leo,
I'm Earl. I think these pics you posted are really creepy. Maybe thats the feeling your meant to get? I do.
Plus, cool name

Leo Tsang said...

Hey Earl, interesting to know you find them creepy, whats make them creepy to you? I suppose there a little disturbing with the subject matter, but I find them quite powerful in that way.

Bluejetdude said...

I don't really know? I think its just unnerving to see children crying. It also may be the fact they seem atleast to be half naked.

Leo Tsang said...

Ah, they feel even more vulnerable being posed with no clothing. Theres quite a bit of controversy with this series and the choice to use children and make them cry, mostly on an ethical level and whether it is harmful to the child.

David Solo said...

If I took these I would be arrested. Firstly there is a pedophile aspect to them as the child is apparently naked as far as we can see. added to the fact the child is DELIBERATELY made to cry just so some douche can take the photo. I'd love to make them cry and take a photo. See how they like that.... Jill Greenberg is nothing more than a scumbag. I,m not interested in her pictures and if I EVER saw a product advertised with her photos I would boycott it.

Unknown said...

Nothing special about these photos. Nothing raw or interesting. At least not to me. Seems more like a pretentious bitch with a hasselblad

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